That song ["Don't Tell Me"] didn't take us anywhere, and I know why now. It wasn't what Van Halen fans wanted. It showed the darkness of Van Halen, and basically the end of the band.
Van Halen was a huge influence on me, and 'Eruption' was the song that really leaped off that first Van Halen album.
I do remember being a kid and hearing Van Halen. My dad was always playing Van Halen in the car.
At some point I decided I didn't want to learn any more guitar technique. I was at that level where the next mountain there was to climb was Van Halen and I didn't really like Van Halen.
Classic Van Halen made people want to dance and f**k. Modern Van Halen makes you want to drink milk and drive foreign cars.
I had a solo career before Van Halen. My fan base filtered through Van Halen with me and came right on out the other side with me.
My heroes were Eddie Van Halen - especially after Van Halen I, II, III, and IV - Randy Rhoads, Ace Frehley and dudes like that. My brother played drums and we jammed in the garage and started writing our own stuff.
To me, the secret of Eddie Van Halen was Alex Van Halen, because the way Alex played was so loose and the way the two of them locked together... Those two are connected so thoroughly they might as well be one person.
If I would have ever dreamed that I wouldn't be in Van Halen anymore and was going to have resume my solo career again, I would have never contributed anything towards my own greatest hits package.
Greg Ginn was certainly a huge influence on my guitar playing. I put him up there with people like Eddie Van Halen. Eddie Van Halen changed everything; I don't necessarily like everything he did, but he definitely changed everything.
I believe that the art market is in a place similar to the music industry in 2005. Big changes are coming and the art market will most likely be very different in ten years. However, if you are the art equivalent of Van Halen, you don't really have to change anything. But if you are not Van Halen, then it is time to figure how to adapt to all the changes.
The band changes one guy, sometimes the whole damn thing changes - look what happened when I joined Van Halen.
I've heard my share of Van Halen. I never liked rock.
I was a huge 'Pyromania' fan. You would never expect it, but I was in love with Iron Maiden; I was such a huge fan. I went to a lot of rock stuff like Van Halen, too.
It was fun while it lasted, but it never seemed real to me. I could not believe I was in Van Halen.
I wouldn't mind meeting Eddie Van Halen. That would be great. We need to invite him to a race.